The future of plant engineering
Large-scale plant constructors are facing a growing diversity of customer expectations

What place is the turnkey sector to occupy in the international large-plant construction business? Is there more demand now for world-scale plant systems – or is it small local production facilities that actually show the way forward? There is of course no easy answer to any of the questions posed. It is however possible to observe certain trends and developments in the sector.
Customers in the European fine-chemicals business do not have much time - at least not in public - for the idea of turnkey plants. "Users prefer to apply their own know-how, which they want to hang on to at all costs", is the opinion of one expert in the field. The manufacturers of these chemicals must also work intensively on fine-tuning their individual production and processing technology for the international market: "Anyone in this business who doesn't carry out constant improvements to their technology is soon going to run into trouble", writes John Wetzel of Rütgers Organics in Chemical Week of 27th February 2002. The "anyone-can-play" mentality of the boom years of the last decade has now given way to a realitybased philosophy that is more akin to "survival of the fittest".